The Sad Story of Subject Theta
by The-Artist-64
Summary: In the year 1957, experimentation began on the 'Big Daddy' in the undersea utopia of Rapture. The alpha series was the very first of these monstrosities. Professor Albert Langston is the unfortunate soul selected for the eighth in the production line...Subject Theta.
1. Chapter I: The Beginning

_"The sea is a cold place. Most would say the world is colder. That's why Andrew Ryan built this city. Under the sea, we are all free men. We are entitled to the sweat of out brow. But it always seems that coldness will seep into every corner of utopia. Corruption slowly penetrated the utopia of Rapture, and eventually the darkness will overcome it. For now, we wait. But soon, we shall all be buried at sea."_

I sit at my desk, preparing a lecture for tomorrow morning. A knock at the door sent me to greet my guest.

"Sorry I bothered you Professor Langston, but I left my notes here." a young woman says to me.

"Not at all Judy. It's fine." I reply. I am not irritated, nor disturbed. I try to stay pure in this city of lies. She reaches for her notes, but I can see it in her eyes. She did not come for her notes. She came seeking knowledge.

"Actually, Professor, there was something I wanted to know." she looks away.

"Go ahead." I say, setting my notes aside and giving her full attention.

"You never told us why you came to Rapture. You just don't fit with all the others." she gives a fake smile, but behind the smile is genuine worry and concern.

"I came to forget and to begin again. You see, I had a wife waiting for me back home during World War II. I came back, and a year later we had a daughter. I can remember my daughter well...she had eyes just like yours." I say. She blushes. "One day, we went to have a picnic by the river." I pause, noticing I felt a little sick. "You'll have to excuse me Judy, I'm not feeling well."

"I'm sorry. Did I bring up any bad memories?" she looks worried, knowing she has hurt me.

"No, not at all. I live with these memories every day. You have no need to feel bad." I pat her shoulder. She shakes her head, understanding, and heads out. But I notice, just as she reaches the door, she turns around.

"It may be a little to much to ask, but I'd really like to talk to you again. What's your name?"

"Albert. I look forward to our next chat."

* * *

I read the latest issue of the Rapture Tribune. The headline article reads of a hero named 'Johnny Topside'. I smile and recall a time when I spoke to him. He told me about a new kind of music called 'Rock and Roll'. It's funny how much can happen in six years.

As I expect, Judy walks in again. She is innocent looking, as always, but a little more cold than usual. We greet.

"Have you heard of Johnny Topside? I think Rapture needs more like him." I casually say. She seems to take note of this.

"Yes. I talked to him recently." she says.

"Of course, Andrew Ryan has closed off Rapture for good. Wouldn't it be wonderful if Rapture allowed more outsiders?" I say. I am comfortable talking to her. My worries of being judged are canceled out.

"About Andrew Ryan...what else do you not like about him?" she asks.

"I admire Mr. Ryan very much. I believe he's very intelligent and inventive. Despite this, he does seem kind of...cruel." I reflect on past experience with him. My words are true.

"What about Atlas? Do you believe that he should rule Rapture?" Judy's question stumps me, and I ponder over it for a while.

"Well Judy, I think that he could not keep Rapture in it's glorious state. However, I believe that everyone would be a little happier if he were running the city."

"That's all I needed to know for today Professor. Thank you." she heads to the door and closes it before I can respond. Have I said something wrong?

* * *

As I lay awake at night, I worry about the recent occurrence- Johnny Topside has gone missing. He was an outsider. If he was changing the system, did they...dispose of him?

Is Andrew Ryan trying to silence those who do not support him?

I lye awake for the rest of the night.

* * *

Judy comes in, as usual. She seems more focused.

"Good afternoon Judy." I greet her. She does the same.

"There's something that's been on my mind today." she says with a grin.

"And what would that be?"

"I disagree with Andrew Ryan's reign over Rapture. Will you overthrow him with me?" she asks. She holds out her hand. I think rapidly, and sweat profusely. Overthrowing could mean my death. But...but Ryan is murdering innocent individuals. Is he doing it for the greater good? I wouldn't think so.

"All right Judy." I take her hand. Maybe the corruption shall end here. She grins deviously.

"You are a very stupid man." Judy says. She picks up a walkie talkie, hidden in her pocket. "You can take him now."

"What?!" I cry in confusion.

"You were being watched from the start Albert. I am Doctor Lucille Rodkins, member of the Rapture family. Every single word you've said has been recorded. Andrew Ryan has heard all of it. The verdict? Guilty." I am knocked unconscious. My thoughts and my mind drift away, into the sea.


	2. Chapter II: The Lost Ones

I awaken to see a white, sterilized room. Have I died?

"Name?" I hear a female voice say.

"Professor Albert Langston." a masculine voice replies.

"Date of birth?" the female voice asks.

"August 21, 1919." I can finally see two figures looming above me...two scientists wearing lab coats. The male one is looking through my wallet, examining my information.

"Excellent. A prime specimen. Subject...Eta, I believe?" the middle aged woman looks back at my body. I am not in heaven. No, I am in Hell.

"No, that was the last one. Professor Langston would be Subject Theta." he replies. I feel the coldness of the stretcher below me and I can hear screams in another room. The coldness seeps into my body, and fear paralyzes me. I notice that the side of my head aches.

"Very good. His conversion is scheduled for tomorrow. Put him in his cell." I am wheeled into a small prison cell and left there. It takes a while, but I get off the stretcher and sit in the provided chair. I sit, shivering. My mind drifts away, into the sea behind me. My thoughts are on the surface. Why did I ever sign up to join Rapture?

"Hey. Hey you." a man's voice pulls me out of my dream-like state. "I'm talkin' to you!" I quickly look to my left side to see a younger man with an eyepatch.

"Oh. I'm so sorry."

"Finally! God, it's like I'm talkin' to a tree here!" the man yells in a frustrated tone.

"Where are we?" I ask.

"What do you think idiot?! The lab."

"Who are you?" I proceed to ask.

"You ain't never heard of me? I am Robert Williams, Rapture's baddest crook! Or at least, was. Till Sophia Lamb betrayed me at Persephone." he clenches his fists in rage.

"So I guess we're stuck here then?" I say, depressed.

"Not for long. I got a plan." he says, grinning. I perk up.

"What is it?"

"The guards will come to deliver lunch when the small hand on that clock up there is on 12. Just follow my lead." Robert whispers. Time passes, and sure enough the guards arrive with our final meals. The guard opens Robert's door and sets a tray of food on his table. He gets up, suddenly, and kicks the guard in the groin. He takes his gun and shoots the guard at my door. An alarm sounds as Robert runs. I follow.

"It's a good enough plan..." I say between breaths. "...but it'll never work!"

"And why is that _smart man_?" he shouts sarcastically over the alarm.

"We're out-gunned."

We are stopped by an array of armed guards.

"Don't shoot them. I want them alive." an official looking man, who I recognize as Dr. Gilbert Alexander, stops the guards from firing. "Escort Mr. Williams back to his cell, I will deal with him later. I need a minute to speak to Professor Langston." the guards nod, and Robert is dragged kicking and screaming back to his cell.

"What is this? Why am I here?!" I can now feel Robert's rage coursing through me.

"Now now, calm down. It will all be over soon. Here, I have something for you." I look down, and the last thing I see is a large needle being stabbed into my arm. Again, my mind fades into darkness.


	3. Chapter III: Subject Theta

The darkness passes. I am in the sterilized room again.

"Subject Theta has regained consciousness." I hear.

_"Subject Theta? They never call me that." _I think to myself. I feel...insolated. I raise my hands, to see what has happened...I see gloves. They are thick and have a metal cover with the Greek letter of 'theta' on them. I try to pull them off...they stick. Then, I come to a terrifying realization. I have become what is only rumored about. I am a Protector. _"What have you done to me?!"_ I try and shout. I thrash around, trying to break my constraints. They simply laugh at me.

"I think it's trying to speak to us."

I take a drill off the table and attach it to my right hand. Some of them scream. In pure rage, I plunge the metal drill into the scientist who mocked me. I look down at the weapon, covered in blood. Is this what I've become? A murdering, psychotic..._monster_?

"Subject Theta. Stop." I turn to a woman. She calms me down. "I am Doctor Sofia Lamb. You must not hurt anyone else. Do you understand?" Sofia says. I nod, showing that I understand. Despite my rage, I felt sick. I could never murder again. "Good. Now that you understand, I want you to go to the Proving Grounds. Do you understand?"

I sigh, and simply shake my head.

* * *

I see a fountain, still filled with water. I look like a deep sea diver. A machine. I clumsily push off the helmet, and...

_"Oh my God." _I think to myself. I truly am a monster.

I put my helmet back on, and square my shoulders to the task ahead. I see a table with a few guns and a drill on it.

"These are your weapons, Subject Theta. Use them." Lamb tells me over a communicator placed inside my helmet. A security robot approaches me with its guns blazing. By instinct, I take the gun and fire away. The machine falls. Very easy. Several more perish. Eventually, I believe it to be over. And then, I see...her.

She is a small child. She wears a purple dress and her dark hair is tied. She reminds me of someone...but I can't remember. I panic. My memory is gone. The very last thing I had, taken from me.

In the midst of my horror, she looks up at me.

"Are you my daddy?" she says.

I know what must be done. I must protect the girl. I take her small, warm hand. She laughs when she sees my long fingers.

"Come on daddy!"

She sees a body. A mutilated body...the victim of one of my kind? She stabs the corpse with something, and takes something from it. I cannot tell what, but I know that harvesting is her mission. It comes to me, naturally. She moves to her next 'angel', as she calls them. She harvests, and I can hear a voice.

"Come 'ere, you little brat!" he, a disfigured man shouts. He has tumors and claw-like fingers. He is ready to harm my little girl. She screams.

"Kill him." the voice in my helmet tells me. My vision seems to go red. I am in a different state now...what of my promise? The bullet of the gun in my hand flies into his chest. He stops and cries in pain. I shoot him again, twice. His heart stops. I can hear every vein cease to pump, I can feel him hit the floor. An altered state of perception. My heightened senses, my aggressiveness...it does not feel like I am myself...but I don't know who I am anymore. If I have to re-define myself, I don't want to be like this. "Very good. Now return to my location." the voice says. I do as she says.

* * *

I walk on the sea floor, citizens occasionally looking at me through thick glass in fear. I have been assigned maintenance, and Laura waits in the air vents. Yes, her name is Laura. Her favorite color is green, she likes to draw with bright colors and she hates the 'splicers'. I do not know how much time has passed, but I still take orders from the woman. The splicers have increased in numbers lately, as have the protectors. I know that something big is coming. I will not let my Laura parish in the conflict.

I see a calender inside a diner, and I can very faintly read the date as December 23rd, 1958.

As I begin drilling, I begin to think. Clear thinking is something I have not done for a while. I think of me and Laura in a grassy hill, having a picnic.

As another woman appears, a woman I did not think of, I begin to feel my head ache.

I become a man with brown hair wearing a suit. And Laura? She isn't even herself.

I feel like I am falling. Like the pressure of the sea is tearing me apart. I am caught in a hurricane of pain.

It stops.

_And I remember._


	4. Chapter IV: A Father's Love

_I lean over to my daughter. "Can you name all the fish in this tank?"_

"That's a Clownfish..." she points to a fish swimming close to the glass. "That's a Regal Tang, and that's a Yellow Tang."

"Very good! You're on the road to becoming a Marine Biologist." I pat her head. She smiles and gives me a tight squeeze.

"I love you daddy."

* * *

__The anger stirring inside me pushes me onward as I march through Rapture. I will find the people that did this to me and exterminate them. Everything that made me a man- my voice, my face, _my memories. _It's sickening.

I walk through the dimly-lit lower levels of Rapture. Working class 'citizens' are shoveling coal, working at dangerous docks and cranking generators. Is this really utopia?

As I walk up the stairs, I see the red light of something approaching me _fast_. I take a closer look, and...it's another of my kind.

It shoots a rivet gun at me, and I feel the force shoot onto my arm. The pain is surprisingly negated by my armor. I use my drill to injure it's right arm. It drops the rivet gun, unable to use it.

It equips it's own drill and shoves it into my helmet. I feel my helmet crack. The Alpha Series kicks me down, and I look up as it revs its drill. Is this the end?

Not today. I take off my helmet and toss it into his chest. The force slows him, giving me enough time to stand up and punch his face. He is knocked down, as I was.

It grabs for my neck with it's single functioning arm. I feel air escape my neck, and it's powerful grip secures on me.

I pick up the rivet gun and shoot at it with all the ammunition left. It cries a horrible shriek and collapses. I breathe for a moment and begin to wonder why it attacked me. I look at his glove- Iota. Subject Iota. Iota comes after Theta...this Protector was made right after me. But who is it?

I take off it's helmet and put it on my own head, as mine was damaged. The face underneath is so spliced I cannot tell who it is, but there is one thing that speaks to me. It's right eye is injured. No one I ever knew it Rapture has had an injured eye like that before...except for Robert Williams. Why would the man who tried to help me escape attack me like that? Maybe...maybe someone was trying to stop me.

Then, it dawns on me. I haven't seen Laura for a while.

"Hello Subject Theta."

I turn my infuriated face to the monitor behind me. Sofia Lamb is staring at me with cold, dead eyes.

"I see that you're running around Rapture straying from your assignment. I can't have you compromising my plans, so I'll make you a deal." She turns the camera to Laura. I can hear the sound of Splicers in the other room. "I think you can understand what I am implying. I promise you that no harm will come to her..._if_ you will terminate yourself."

I shout an inhuman groan of rage.

"We wouldn't want another death on our conscious, would we _Albert_." she smiles, and the video feed ends. She is right. I know what must be done.

I remove my helmet.

I walk into a tunnel, leading into the sea.

The last thing I see is a very bright light.


End file.
